June 28, 2012 - Christie Administration Marks Ribbon Cutting Ceremonies for Three Properties in the Clinton Hill Section of Newark

CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION MARKS RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONIES
FOR THREE PROPERTIES IN THE CLINTON HILL SECTION OF NEWARK

Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) Funds Bring Needed Investment to the South Ward Community

NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) officials today joined Episcopal Community Development, Inc. (ECD), city, county and state officials to celebrate the completion of three properties (6 housing units) rebuilt as high quality, energy efficient family living units in the Clinton Hill section of Newark. The DCA provided $1.95 million, which is expected to rehabilitate or construct 16 properties yielding 34 affordable units.

“The funding that ECD was awarded through DCA’s Neighborhood Stabilization program is expected to rehabilitate 30 properties resulting in 64 affordable units within Newark’s Clinton Hill neighborhood and Irvington’s Eastern neighborhood,” said DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III. “These once-blighted properties have been transformed into quality affordable housing that will invite new families to join the Newark and Irvington communities.”

These three properties are a part of ECD’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program,which has seen over 28 units of formally foreclosed housing completed over the past 9 months, with an additional 154 units in the pipeline.

“Projects such as this demonstrate the success of the NSP program,” said Diane Kinnane, Manager of the Neighborhood Element of the Division of Housing and Community Resources. “This program provides the necessary resources to stabilize neighborhoods where a rise in foreclosures is contributing significantly to declining home values and property deterioration.”

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Division of Housing and Community Resources is responsible for administering $51,470,620 in NSP funding allocated under the Federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 ( HERA ). Under Title III of HERA, the Neighborhood Stabilization Program provides assistance to local governments, non-profit and for- profit developers for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes. The program is intended to prevent further declines in neighborhoods most severely impacted by foreclosures, and which are statistically at high risk of continued deterioration, but otherwise have attributes that will ameliorate the impact of the foreclosures.

Eligible NSP fund uses include acquisition of foreclosed-upon housing units, abandoned housing units and vacant land; rehabilitation of housing units in order to sell or rent such housing units to households at or below 120 percent of area median income; demolition of blighted structures; new construction of housing for projects involving the redevelopment of demolished or vacant properties; and redevelopment of acquired property for residential and non-residential uses, including public parks, commercial uses or mixed residential and commercial use. All NSP funding must be used with respect to individuals and families whose income does not exceed 120 percent of area median income and at least 25 percent of this amount must be used for residential units that are affordable to households whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of area median income.